It’s long been known that high-powered careers can hamper or delay women’s plans to have children. But a new study suggests the challenges loom especially large for women of Generation X.

A full 43% of skilled white-collar Gen X women, ages 33 to 46 years old, haven’t yet had children based on a study of 2,952 college-educated white-collar workers released last week.

The study conducted for the Center for Work-Life Policy, by Knowledge Networks, suggests the pressures imposed by demanding work schedules of 60 hours or more a week, along with strong career ambitions, heavy debt loads and the sluggish economy, are among the reasons, according to the Center. The conclusions are based on a survey, focus-group discussions and one-on-one interviews.

Comments

White collar, generation X women have always displayed a lot of ambition toward their careers. That ambition, coupled with high student loan debt, and the sluggish economy have probably put 'child rearing' on the back burner with regard to a lot of white collar, generation X women's plans for raising a family.